Shiu Man Lee, who is mentally challenged, waits in her bedroom for her mother on the night they must leave their home forever Tuesday, October 22, 2013, in San Francisco.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Shiu Man Lee, who is mentally challenged, waits in her bedroom for...

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Gum Gee Lee is reflected in a broken mirror brought down from the home recently in San Francisco. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Father Poon Heung Lee (center) returns to the house after bringing some belongings down to the street recently in San Francisco. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pickup.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Father Poon Heung Lee (center) returns to the house after bringing...

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Even though the Lee family will soon leave their home, they continue to remove shoes before entering the house in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Even though the Lee family will soon leave their home, they...

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Gum Gee Lee (second from top) and her daughter Shiu Man Lee walk down the long stairway for the last time as they leave their home of over 30 years Tuesday October 22, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. On the last night at their home, the Lee family packs up and leaves for a motel where they will stay until more permanent housing can be finalized.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Gum Gee Lee (second from top) and her daughter Shiu Man Lee walk...

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Gum Gee Lee, the mother, watches some commotion in the hallway of her home of over thirty years, shortly before leaving forever Tuesday October 22, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. On the last night at their home, the Lee family packs up and leaves for a motel where they will stay until more permanent housing can be finalized.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Gum Gee Lee, the mother, watches some commotion in the hallway of...

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Mother Gum Gee Lee (left) and her daughter Shiu Man Lee wait in a bedroom with some of their belongings shortly before leaving their home Tuesday October 22, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. On the last night at their home, the Lee family packs up and leaves for a motel where they will stay until more permanent housing can be finalized.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Mother Gum Gee Lee (left) and her daughter Shiu Man Lee wait in a...

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Gum Gee Lee (right) is visited by a former neighbor who offers support recently in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Gum Gee Lee (right) is visited by a former neighbor who offers...

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The Lee family moves bedding in preparation for their forced move recently in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

The Lee family moves bedding in preparation for their forced move...

Image 11 of 16

Gum Gee Lee, the mother, is reflected in a broken mirror brought down from the home recently in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Gum Gee Lee, the mother, is reflected in a broken mirror brought...

Image 12 of 16

Gum Gee Lee stops to label belongings they are bringing to the street recently in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Gum Gee Lee stops to label belongings they are bringing to the...

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Gum Gee Lee (right) paces the floor of her daughter's bedroom (Shiu Man Lee at left) during the families last minutes in their home of over 30 years Tuesday October 22, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. On the last night at their home, the Lee family packs up and leaves for a motel where they will stay until more permanent housing can be finalized.

Father Poon Heung Lee (right) takes apart a kitchen table to be moved recently in San Francisco, Calif. The Lee family, who are being evicted from their San Francisco home of over 30 years, move some belongings to the street for pick up.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Father Poon Heung Lee (right) takes apart a kitchen table to be...

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Gum Gee Lee (left) adjusts the sweater on her daughter Shiu Man Lee just before leaving their home of over thirty years forever Tuesday October 22, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. On the last night at their home, the Lee family packs up and leaves for a motel where they will stay until more permanent housing can be finalized.

Score one for the tech-fueled housing boom in San Francisco, and mark down one more poor family ousted from their home.

The elderly Chinese American couple fighting eviction from their low-rent apartment near Nob Hill by a landlord planning to transform it into pricey homes lost the battle for good late Tuesday when they moved everything out and went to a hotel.

The couple, who lived in the two-bedroom unit with their mentally disabled daughter for 34 years, silently loaded a few belongings into a friend's car just after 8 p.m. and drove away. Relatives and community volunteers worked until after 11 p.m. moving the family's furniture and other belongings to a storage center.

The eviction of 80-year-old Poon Heung Lee and his family had drawn noisy protests by tenant advocates and sympathy from Mayor Ed Lee and several city supervisors over the past year - but to no avail. The drama may have an afterlife, however, in that it also spurred City Hall and community leaders to craft prospective policy changes to protect others in their predicament.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu has introduced legislation to give priority for affordable housing to longtime residents being evicted by landlords converting their rentals to housing, and other proposals are expected to be announced this week.

Lee, his 74-year-old wife, Gum Gee Lee, and their 48-year-old daughter were evicted with their neighbors from eight low-cost, weather-beaten apartments at Jackson and Larkin streets so the building's owner could convert them to tenant-in-common units.

The evictions were legal under the state's Ellis Act, which allows landowners to oust tenants to renovate apartments and sell them as in-common units. Spurred by the exploding demand for housing, Ellis Act evictions shot up 81 percent in San Francisco over the past year, according to the city's Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board.

Building owner Matthew Miller's attorney, Jeff Woo, said Miller "had great sympathy for the Lees ... and we wish them well." But he said it was impractical to leave the building as is. Recently upgraded tenant-in-common units in the area regularly sell for upward of $1 million apiece.

"Before the implementation of the Ellis Act, Mr. Miller reached out and worked to find a way for some other solution that was not an eviction, but that wasn't possible," Woo said. "Unfortunately, we got to this point."

An attorney for the Lees said they are scheduled to receive $22,000 in relocation costs from Miller.

"It's been a very difficult time for everyone," said Gen Fujioka, policy director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, who helped the family during the eviction fight and then drove a truck with their belongings to the storage facility. "We're trying very hard to find them a permanent place to live, and we expect that something is just around the corner."

The Lees remained mostly stoic throughout the move Tuesday night. At one point, Gum Gee Lee sat for a long while in one of the apartment's empty bedrooms as her daughter held her head in her hands, distressed.

The family lives mostly on Social Security checks and said that despite the help from advocates and Mayor Lee's office, they haven't been able to find anything close to the $778 they paid for their Jackson Street apartment.

They said they want to stay near Chinatown, where their lack of English language skills is not a problem and Asian-oriented community services for their daughter's disability and other needs are plentiful.

"We thought we'd live here until we passed away," Gum Gee Lee said before leaving her home. "And now this. It is all so sad."